Northeast joins DC United as Swansea remain in flux
Northeast was dismissed by Swansea in July
Written by Simon Austin — January 6, 2018
JONNY NORTHEAST has been appointed as Head of Sports Science at DC United - six months after losing his job at sister club Swansea City.
Northeast, who had been with the Swans since 2014, was dismissed in July following a restructuring of the performance department at the club.
When Paul Clement was appointed as manager in January 2017, he brought Karl Halabi, with whom he had worked at Fulham, Chelsea and Derby, with him as Head of Physical Performance and assistant manager.
In July, Halabi recruited Eddie Lattimore, with whom he had worked at Tottenham’s Academy, as his assistant. With Rich Buchanan recently in place as Performance Director, this left no room for Northeast or sport scientist Will Sparkes.
Clement, Halabi and fellow assistant Nigel Gibbs were all sacked on December 20th, less than a year after arriving in south Wales, with the Swans rooted to the bottom of the Premier League table.
Swansea co-owner Jason Levien is also a minority shareholder in DC United, as well as being the US club's Managing General Partner and CEO. The MLS side currently have two players training with the Swans during their own off-season.
In his new role, Northeast "will focus on improving players’ physical preparation and athletic development while mitigating the risk of injury."
He tweeted: “After a couple months of self reflection and time with the family. I’m excited for my new challenge and chapter @dcunited looking forward to the season ahead.”
Dan Altman, Head of Strategy for Kaplan-Levien Sports, is Senior Adviser for Soccer Operations for both clubs.
He said: “We're so lucky to have Rich Buchanan taking care of our players in Swansea and now Jonny Northeast in DC. They've been responsible for some of the Premier League's best injury records.
"The greatest players in the world won't help you if they can't get on the pitch.”
Which does make you question why Northeast lost his job at Swansea in the first place.
New manager Carlos Carvalhal has brought four staff with him to Swansea - coaches Joao Mario and Bruno Lage and analysts Jhony Conceicao and Paulo Sampaio.
